Tiger Woods has been awarded a lifetime exemption by the PGA Tour to enter all of its future signature events, beginning next year.
The PGA Tour policy board has decided to establish an additional signature events sponsor exemption specifically to honor Woods’ achievement of surpassing 80 career wins.
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This special privilege grants Woods the opportunity to compete in all eight prestigious tournaments on tour for the remainder of his career, which do not include majors.
Woods, 48, has won 82 PGA Tour titles, including 15 majors, but has had a limited schedule in recent years due to various injuries.
“Among his 82 career wins, Woods won the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard eight times and the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday five times. Both are Signature Events,” a PGA Tour memo added.
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Since his car crash in February 2021, which necessitated surgery due to serious leg injuries, Woods has competed in only nine tournaments.
The American shares the record for most overall victories on the tour with Sam Snead, and his 15 major wins rank second all-time behind Jack Nicklaus, who won 18.
In his four outings in PGA competitions this year, Woods withdrew during the Genesis Invitational due to illness, finished last among those who made the cut at the Masters, and subsequently missed the cut at both the PGA Championship and the U.S. Open.
“As far as my last Open Championship or U.S. Open Championship, I don’t know what that is. It may or may not be,” he said.
“I thought I played well enough to be up there in contention. It just didn’t work out.”
The Open Championship in Scotland next month will be Woods’ final event of the season.
(Keyur Khamar/PGA TOUR via Getty Images)